Bluetooth and/or PulseAudio is an utter mess

[David LaVerne]

I am trying to setup Ubuntu-MATE for use with Zoom.
Freshly installed 20.04.2.0.
Zoom version is not relevant because problems are outside Zoom.

This is enough of a mess,I can't guess any better where the
problems lie; I.m pretty sure some of the behavior is
Bluetooth, and some of it is in PulseAudio, and some of it
appears to be in the interactions between them.

blueman-manager version 2.1.2
pulseaudio version 13.99.1

Behaviors are erratic, inconsistent, and wrong.

Connected Headset (Remax RB-T26 earphone) via Bluetooth
    Used "Set Up New Device"; discovered, selected, paired, finished
    Used "Devices" to connect
    "Trust"
"Sound Preferences" -> Hardware shows device as disabled
    Exit and restart, shows as "1 output / 1 input" "A2DP Sink"
    Only profile available: "High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink)"
    Microphone feature unusable
    ~$ bluetoothctl
    [RB-T26]# info
    Device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (public)
        Name: RB-T26
        Alias: RB-T26
        Class: 0x00240404
        Icon: audio-card
        Paired: yes
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes
        LegacyPairing: no
        UUID: Audio Sink (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Handsfree (0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
This appears to be an issue that has been argued about for OVER 11 YEARS
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/508522
and little-to-nothing done. Comment #74 gives a suggested solution to edit
/etc/pulse/default.pa to change the load to be
    load-module module-bluetooth-policy auto_switch=2
but that didn't help, possibly because there is no HSP/HFP profile.

Also, device shows in "Sound Preferences" -> Output as Stereo, but
"Sound Preferences" -> Hardware -> Test Speakers only gets sound
from Front Left.

So remove that from the Blueman-Manager list, and reset it so it is
unpaired; I'll return it to the store and hope for a refund.

In "Sound Preferences"-> Hardware, the Input/Output line appears to be
wrong. I have Built-in Audio, with 4 profiles
"Analog Stereo Duplex"
"Analog Stereo Output"
"Analog Stereo Input"
"Off"
The bottom line always correctly reflects the selected profile, but if I
select "Off" the middle line shows "1 Output / 2 Inputs", and if I then
select "Analog Stereo Duplex" the middle line shows "Disabled". Then
"ASO" gives "1 Output / 2 Inputs" as it normally does, and going back to
"ASD"gives "1 Output / 1 Input" as normal. If I go from "ASI" to "Off",
it shows "1 Input". "ASI" -> "Off" = "1 Input" then -> "ASI" = "Disabled"
then -> "ASD" = "1 Input"
Whatever it is doing, it certainly is not dependable.

Since I can't use the Headset, let me try external speakers I have, that
have microphones built in.

Connected Speaker (Unitek Y-B101) via Bluetooth
    Used "Set Up New Device"; discovered, selected, paired, finished
    Used "Devices" to connect
    "Trust"
"Sound Preferences" -> Hardware shows device as disabled, with Profiles
    High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink)
    Headset Head Unit (HSP/HFP)
    Off
    Hardware -> Test Speakers works while "Disabled".
        Set profile to "Off" then to "HSP/HFP" then to "A2DP"
            and we get something other than "Disabled".
    ~$ bluetoothctl
    [UNITEK Y-B101]# info
    Device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (public)
        Name: UNITEK Y-B101
        Alias: UNITEK Y-B101
        Class: 0x00240404
        Icon: audio-card
        Paired: yes
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes
        LegacyPairing: no
        UUID: Headset (00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Audio Sink (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Handsfree (0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
No microphone function.
If we change Hardware -> UNITEK -> Profile -> HSP/HFP then Input -> UNITEK
and set Connector -> Headset, then the Input Level reacts to sound!
Output -> UNITEK shows Mono, the Test Speaker makes a loud noise.
Going back to profile A2DP, Output shows Stereo, and Test Speakers is two;
middle line goes from "1 Output / 1 Input" to "1 Output / 2 Input" - I can
almost believe they have the Input and Output counts reversed.

Connected Second Speaker (Awei Y331) via Bluetooth
    Used "Set Up New Device"; discovered, selected, paired, finished
    Used "Devices" to connect
        "Connection Failed: Input/output error"
    Disconnect first speaker, "Connect" works on second speaker
    "Trust"
    Now re-connect first.
"Sound Preferences" -> Hardware shows both devices as disabled
UNITEK profiles:
    Headset Head Unit (HSP/HFP)
    Off
AWEI profile:
    High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink)
    Off
Exit "Sound Preferences" and restart, neither shown as "Disabled"
    Still only one profile each.
    ~$ bluetoothctl
    [AWEI Y331]# info xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    Device xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (public)
        Name: UNITEK Y-B101
        Alias: UNITEK Y-B101
        Class: 0x00240404
        Icon: audio-card
        Paired: yes
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes
        LegacyPairing: no
        UUID: Headset (00001108-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Audio Sink (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Handsfree (0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
(no changes from previous above)
    [AWEI Y331]# info
    Device yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy (public)
        Name: AWEI Y331
        Alias: AWEI Y331
        Class: 0x00240404
        Icon: audio-card
        Paired: yes
        Trusted: yes
        Blocked: no
        Connected: yes
        LegacyPairing: no
        UUID: Audio Source (0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Audio Sink (0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: A/V Remote Control (0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
        UUID: Handsfree (0000111e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
If we again use Hardware -> UNITEK -> Profile -> HSP/HFP then Input -> UNITEK
and set Connector -> Headset, then the Input Level again reacts to sound!
Output -> UNITEK shows Mono, the Test Speaker makes a loud noise.
No A2DP possibility with this speaker.
On AWEI speaker, both channels work, but microphone does not.

Except that something suddenly destroys the Front Right speaker channel,
and all I get is the Front Left speaker test. Nor do I know what to do
to restore it. What seems towork is delete (rename) ~/.config/pulse and
reboot.

If I disconnect from both speakers, as above, I have to connect to the AWEI
first to avoid the error. However, if I disconnect the AWEI and leave the
UNITEK connected, I can reconnect the AWEI without the error.

IfI tryto use "Same as System" for Output or Input with Zoom, I get
nothing, even though the system is set to the speaker microphone that
works and the speaker that works.
If I try to Output the AWEI speaker by name from Zoom, it ouputs pieces
of erratic notes instead the test melody.
If I Output to the UNITEK speaker, it works but is extrememly low
fidelity (harsh even). It may work for voices.
The

It looks like, with a bunch of this argued over 11 years as to who should
be looking at it, that the decision by Ubuntu/Ubuntu-MATE/Freedesktop/etc
is implicitly that using a headset is not supported, and if you want to,

to Zoom,
to do Customer Relations with the phone through the computer,
to do Tech Support similarly configured,
to do most nigh on to any VoIP work,

or any of a hundred or a thousand of other reasons, Linux will NOT do the
job.

Windows 7, 8, or 10 will do the job. No problem.
MacOS will do the job. No problem.
Android? iOS? It's what they DO.

Linux? Ubuntu? Doesn't believe there is any reason for the job.
At least that should be made explicit and clear.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

One common problem of not being able to use high fidelity mode and a mic at the same time is being tracked in bug 1838151. So please subscribe to that. It might not be the same issue precisely but a fix for that bug sounds like it might help you too.

As for any remaining concerns, please report each as a separate bug using this command:

  ubuntu-bug pulseaudio

each with a concise, objective description.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for Ubuntu MATE because there has been no activity for 60 days.]